Page 64 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013

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A sandstone stele of Kurukulla
Eastern India, Pala Period, 9th/10th century
The young goddess seated in sattvasana above a broad-leafed lotus throne, with her four arms she
offers the gesture of assurance with a lotus blossom issuing from the center of her primary right
palm, and her other, limp and upraised, recoiling from a fired arrow, in her left hands she clutches
the stem of a lotus which blossoms by her shoulder with curved petals and robust stamen, and her
slack bow, she is adorned with a sacred thread that mimics her curves as it runs across her waist
and over her breast with revealed nipple, and bedecked with armbands and a necklace of classic
Pala style, her face with a sweet smile carved in high relief and slender, undulating eyes, flanked
by large earrings piercing her lobes, and centered by a rectangular urna, below a tiara with side
ribbons flailing upwards on the petal-shaped mandorla, and two leaves flanking the lotus-born
Buddha Amitabha at center with hands resting in dhyana mudra presented before her five-tiered
rounded chignon crowned with a blooming lotus bud.
28 1/8 in. (71.4 cm) high
$50,000 - 70,000

Kurukulla is one of the most alluring deities in Buddhist art. Thought to have initially been a tribal
goddess originating from Udayana in Swat Valley, she is the goddess of enchantment, magnetism,
and witchcraft. Liturgically, she is invoked to subdue those evil spirits, demons, and humans who
work against the welfare of humanity and its spiritual evolution, while in popular practice, she is
called on for the success a new enterprise, to win court cases, or to bewitch others. In this regard,
the Arya Tara Kurukulla Kalpa, outlines magical rites for enchanting and subjugating others, curing
frigidity and impotence, and acquiring wealth and power.

Ranking among the top tier of sculpture produced in the early Pala period, the present lot
exudes the essence and affect of the deity. Just as Kurukulla’s flower-arrows symbolize the
desire she incites in her targets, the sculpture brims and overflows with floral imagery at her
pedestal, mandorla, right hand, left hand, bow, crown, and hair. Her bow is slack and gentle, her
face is kind and cheerful, her breasts are large and revealed. Depicting the youthful deity with
sensuous proportions and her four arms with the impression of physiognomic accuracy, the piece
matches the high caliber of a stele of Parnashabari in the
Bangladesh National Museum (see the
Huntington Archive no. 0009331).

Provenance:
Private Collection, New York
Sotheby’s, New York, 25 March 1999, lot 154

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